Controlling driving modes and operations for vehicles

Abstract

Techniques are described for performing vehicle operation that comprises determining, by a computer located in a vehicle and for each of a first driving mode and a second driving mode, a set of values of a predicted trajectory along which the vehicle is predicted to operate in a driving mode; performing a first determination that the vehicle is not operable in the first driving mode; performing a second determination that the vehicle is operable in the second driving mode; and causing, in response to the second determination, the vehicle to operate in the second driving mode by sending one or more driving related commands to one or more apparatus in the vehicle.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method of vehicle operation, comprising:
 determining, by a computer located in a vehicle and for each of a first driving mode and a second driving mode, a set of values of a predicted trajectory along which the vehicle is predicted to operate in a driving mode;   performing a first determination that the vehicle is not operable in the first driving mode in response to determining that a first set of values of a first predicted trajectory of the first driving mode are outside of values associated with another set of values of a trajectory along which the vehicle is expected to be operated;   performing a second determination that the vehicle is operable in the second driving mode in response to the first determination and in response to determining that a second set of values of a second predicted trajectory of the second driving mode are within the values associated with the another set of values of the trajectory along which the vehicle is expected to be operated; and   causing, in response to the second determination, the vehicle to operate in the second driving mode by sending one or more driving related commands to one or more apparatus in the vehicle, wherein the one or more driving related commands cause the one or more apparatus to operate in accordance with the one or more driving related commands.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 ,
 wherein, for the first driving mode, the first set of values of the first predicted trajectory includes a first range of predicted speeds and a second range of predicted locations along the first predicted trajectory at a confidence level, and   wherein, for the second driving mode, the second set of values of the second predicted trajectory includes a third range of predicted speeds and a fourth range of predicted locations along the second predicted trajectory at the confidence level.   
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , wherein at least some values in the first set of values are greater than or equal to at least some values in the second set of values. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sending the one or more driving related commands to the one or more apparatus includes sending a throttle pedal position value to a motor associated with a throttle pedal. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sending the one or more driving related commands to the one or more apparatus includes sending an engine torque value to an engine of the vehicle. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the sending the one or more driving related commands to the one or more apparatus includes sending a brake pressure value to a brake system. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the causing the vehicle to operate in the second driving mode includes sending an instruction that causes a device configured to perform cruise control related operations to be disabled. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein after the second determination and before the causing the vehicle to operate in the second driving mode, the method further comprises:
 determining that the vehicle has not previously switched from the second driving mode to the first driving mode within a pre-determined time window from a time when the second determination is performed,   wherein the vehicle is caused to operate in the second driving mode in response to the second determination and response to the determining that the vehicle has not previously switched from the second driving mode to the first driving mode within the pre-determined time window.   
     
     
         9 . An apparatus for vehicle operation comprising a processor, configured to implement a method, the processor configured to:
 determine, by a computer located in a vehicle and for each of a first driving mode and a second driving mode, a set of values of a predicted trajectory along which the vehicle is predicted to operate in a driving mode;   perform a first determination that the vehicle is not operable in the first driving mode in response to determining that a first set of values of a first predicted trajectory of the first driving mode are outside of values associated with another set of values of a trajectory along which the vehicle is expected to be operated;   perform a second determination that the vehicle is operable in the second driving mode in response to the first determination and in response to determining that a second set of values of a second predicted trajectory of the second driving mode are within the values associated with the another set of values of the trajectory along which the vehicle is expected to be operated; and   cause, in response to the second determination, the vehicle to operate in the second driving mode by sending one or more driving related commands to one or more apparatus in the vehicle, wherein the one or more driving related commands cause the one or more apparatus to operate in accordance with the one or more driving related commands.   
     
     
         10 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the values associated with another set of values of the trajectory include maximum values and minimum values. 
     
     
         11 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the another set of values of the trajectory includes speeds and locations along the trajectory that includes a future time value. 
     
     
         12 . The apparatus of  claim 9 , wherein the one or more apparatus include an engine, a brake system, a first motor associated with a throttle pedal, or a second motor associated with a brake pedal. 
     
     
         13 . A non-transitory computer readable program storage medium having code stored thereon, the code, when executed by a processor, causing the processor to implement a method, comprising:
 determining, by a computer located in a vehicle and for each of a first driving mode and a second driving mode, a set of values of a predicted trajectory along which the vehicle is predicted to operate in a driving mode;   performing a first determination that the vehicle is not operable in the first driving mode in response to determining that a first set of values of a first predicted trajectory of the first driving mode are outside of values associated with another set of values of a trajectory along which the vehicle is expected to be operated;   performing a second determination that the vehicle is operable in the second driving mode in response to the first determination and in response to determining that a second set of values of a second predicted trajectory of the second driving mode are within the values associated with the another set of values of the trajectory along which the vehicle is expected to be operated; and   causing, in response to the second determination, the vehicle to operate in the second driving mode by sending one or more driving related commands to one or more apparatus in the vehicle, wherein the one or more driving related commands cause the one or more apparatus to operate in accordance with the one or more driving related commands.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory computer readable program storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein, for each of the first driving mode and the second driving mode, the set of values of the predicted trajectory is determined based on a confidence value that indicates a likelihood that a value falls within a range of values. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory computer readable program storage medium of  claim 14 , wherein in response to determining that the second set of values of the second predicted trajectory of the second driving mode are outside of the values associated with the another set of values of the trajectory along which the vehicle is expected to be operated, the method further comprises:
 reducing the confidence value to a second confidence value;   determining, for each of the first driving mode and the second driving mode and based on the second confidence value, one set of values of another trajectory along which the vehicle is predicted to operate in the driving mode; and   causing the vehicle to operate in the second driving mode in response to determining that a third set of values of the second driving mode is within the values associated with a fourth set of values of a new trajectory along which the vehicle is expected to be operated.   
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory computer readable program storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the fourth set of values of the new trajectory include at least some speed values or at least some location values that are different than that in the another set of values of the trajectory. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory computer readable program storage medium of  claim 15 , wherein the method further comprises:
 increasing a risk level indicative of a risk associated with operating the vehicle.   
     
     
         18 . The non-transitory computer readable program storage medium of  claim 17 , wherein the vehicle is not operated in the first driving mode in response to the risk level being greater than a pre-determined level. 
     
     
         19 . The non-transitory computer readable program storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the sending the one or more driving related commands to the one or more apparatus include sending an engine brake torque value to the engine. 
     
     
         20 . The non-transitory computer readable program storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the sending the one or more driving related commands to the one or more apparatus include sending a brake pedal position value to a motor associated with a brake pedal.